Conventionally, when an image larger than the display area of a display section is displayed, the image is scrolled and displayed in accordance with a scroll operation. Thus, for example, a scroll instruction region (drag operation region) where a scroll operation is possible may be provided in the display section.
Meanwhile, in order to perform, on an image displayed on the display area, a process such as a selection operation of selecting a part of the image, an operation region for this operation has to be provided in the display area. Therefore, the above scroll instruction region has to be located in a region other than the operation region, and is normally provided out of the display area (the display area on which an image is scrolled and displayed). Meanwhile, in recent years, information processing apparatuses have been decreased in size, and their display sections also have been decreased in size. Thus, it is desired to increase the proportion of the display area in the display section. In such a case, a region other than an operation region where an operation is performed on an image displayed on the display area is decreased in size, and this leads to a decreased region where a scroll instruction region can be located. Therefore, the region where the scroll instruction region can be located is short in the scrolling direction, and it is difficult to perform a drag process in the scrolling direction which is performed in conventional scrolling technology.
Therefore, a feature of certain exemplary embodiments is to provide a computer-readable storage medium having an information processing program stored therein, an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and an information processing method which allow a scroll operation to be performed with good operability even in a situation where a scroll instruction region is short in a scrolling direction.
Certain exemplary embodiments have the following features to attain the object mentioned above. It is noted that descriptions in parentheses are merely provided to facilitate the understanding of certain exemplary embodiments in relation to later-described embodiments, rather than limiting the scope of certain exemplary embodiments in any way.
An aspect of certain exemplary embodiments is configured as a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein an information processing program executed by a computer of an information processing apparatus which includes a scroll image display region for displaying a scroll target image. The information processing program causes the computer to operate as pointed position detector, scroll instruction determination section, and scrolling controller. The pointed position detector is configured to sequentially detect a pointed position on the scroll image display region by a user. The scroll instruction determination section is configured to determine whether or not the pointed position detected by the pointed position detector has shifted in the scroll image display region in a direction different from a first direction. The scrolling controller is configured to scroll the scroll target image in the first direction when a result of the determination of the scroll instruction determination section is positive.
According to this configuration, the user can cause the scroll target image to be scrolled and displayed in the first direction (to move with respect to the scroll image display region in the direction opposite to the first direction), by moving the pointed position in the scroll image display region in the direction different from first direction (scrolling direction). Therefore, even when the proportion of the scroll image display region in a display section increases, the scroll target image can be scrolled and displayed in the scrolling direction, since the pointed position can be moved in the scroll image display region in the direction different from first direction.
The scroll image display region may include a first region which is used for a scroll instruction and a second region which is used for another instruction, and the first region may be located in the first direction (a y-axis positive direction shown in FIG. 5) with respect to the second region. In this case, the scroll instruction determination section determines whether or not the pointed position detected by the pointed position detector has shifted in the first region in the direction different from the first direction.
This configuration is characterized in that when a region where the first region (a scroll instruction region) can be located is limited to be small, for example, as in the case where the scroll image display region and the second region (e.g., a selection operation region for selecting a part of an image) located within this region occupy a great portion in the display section, the scroll instruction region is located within the scroll image display region. According to this configuration, the user can cause the scroll target image to be scrolled and displayed in the first direction (to move with respect to the scroll image display region in the direction opposite to the first direction), by moving the pointed position in the scroll instruction region located within the scroll image display region, in the direction different from the first direction (scrolling direction). Therefore, even when the scroll image display region is increased in size in the display section and the selection operation region in the scroll image display region is increased in size, the scroll target image can be scrolled and displayed in the scrolling direction, as long as the region, in the direction different from the scrolling direction, of the scroll instruction region located within the scroll image display region is ensured.
The information processing program may further cause the computer to operate as scrolling amount setter configured to set a scrolling amount by which the scroll target image is to be scrolled in the first direction. The scrolling amount setter sets the scrolling amount on the basis of a shift amount by which the pointed position detected by the pointed position detector has shifted in the first region in the direction different from the first direction. The scrolling controller scrolls the scroll target image in the first direction by the scrolling amount which is set by the scrolling amount setter.
According to this configuration, by shifting the pointed position in the direction different from the first direction (scrolling direction) in the first region (a scroll instruction region) located within the scroll image display region, the user can cause the scroll target image to be scrolled and displayed in the first direction (to move with respect to the scroll image display region in the direction opposite to the first direction) by a scrolling amount corresponding to the shift amount. Therefore, the user can adjust the amount of scrolling, as long as the region, in the direction different from the scrolling direction, of the scroll instruction region is ensured.
The process by the scrolling amount setter may be as follows. Specifically, the scrolling amount setter sets a scrolling amount by which scrolling is to be performed per unit time, on the basis of a shift amount by which the pointed position detected by the pointed position detector has shifted in the first region in the direction different from the first direction. In this case, the scrolling controller scrolls the scroll target image in the first direction by the scrolling amount which is set by the scrolling amount setter, per unit time.
According to this configuration, by shifting the pointed position in the direction different from the first direction (scrolling direction) in the first region (a scroll instruction region) located within the scroll image display region, the user can cause the scroll target image to be scrolled and displayed in the first direction (to move with respect to the scroll image display region in the direction opposite to the first direction) by an amount which corresponds to the shift amount and by which scrolling is to be performed per unit time (i.e., at a predetermined speed). Therefore, the user can adjust the speed of scrolling, as long as the region, in the direction different from the scrolling direction, of the scroll instruction region is ensured.
The process by the scrolling amount setter may be as follows. Specifically, the scrolling amount setter sets the scrolling amount in accordance with a length of a track on which the pointed position detected by the pointed position detector has moved in the first region from a predetermined reference position in the direction different from the first direction.
According to this configuration, also by reciprocating the pointed position in the direction different from the first direction (scrolling direction) in the first region (scroll instruction region) located within the scroll image display region, the user can increase the length of a track on which the pointed position moves in the direction different from the first direction. Thus, even when a region where it is possible to move the pointed position in the direction different from the first direction is small, it is possible to increase the length of the track by repeating the reciprocation of the pointed position, and thus it is possible to increase the scrolling amount which is set in accordance with the length (e.g., to increase the speed of scrolling).
The process by the scrolling amount setter may be as follows. Specifically, the scrolling amount setter sets the scrolling amount in accordance with a shift amount by which the pointed position detected by the pointed position detector has shifted in the first region from a predetermined reference position in the direction different from the first direction.
According to this configuration, by changing a distance by which the pointed position moves from the predetermined reference position in the direction different from the first direction (scrolling direction) in the first region (scroll instruction region) located within the scroll image display region, the user can change the scrolling amount which is set in accordance with the distance. Therefore, the user can keep the scrolling amount (e.g., the speed of scrolling) constant by keeping the pointed position at a certain point without continuously moving the pointed position.
The process by the scrolling amount setter may be as follows. Specifically, the scrolling amount setter sets the scrolling amount in accordance with a shift amount by which the pointed position detected by the pointed position detector has shifted in the first region in the direction different from the first direction within a predetermined time.
According to this configuration, by changing a speed at which the pointed position moves in the direction different from the first direction (scrolling direction) in the first region (scroll instruction region) located within the scroll image display region, the user can change the scrolling amount which is set in accordance with the speed. In other words, the user can change the scrolling amount (e.g., the speed of scrolling) by an intuitive operation in which when the pointed position is moved fast, the scrolling amount increases.
The process by the scroll instruction determination section may be as follows. Specifically, the scroll instruction determination section determines whether or not the pointed position detected by the pointed position detector has shifted in the first region in the direction different from the first direction within a predetermined time by an amount exceeding a predetermined threshold.
According to this configuration, by moving the pointed position at a predetermined speed or higher in the direction different from the first direction (scrolling direction) in the first region (scroll instruction region) located within the scroll image display region, the user can cause the scroll target image to be scrolled and displayed in the first direction (to move with respect to the scroll image display region in the direction opposite to the first direction). Therefore, it can be avoided that scroll display is performed when the user can be considered not to intend to increase the speed of scroll display as in the case where the user slowly moves the pointed position in the direction different from the first direction.
The direction different from the first direction may be a direction orthogonal to the first direction.
In general, in order to increase the size of a displayed portion of the scroll target image as much as possible, it is desired to increase the size of the scroll image display region in the scrolling direction. In such a case, the second region (e.g., a selection operation region for selecting a part of an image) within the scroll image display area also has to be increased in size in the scrolling direction, and thus the length (width) of the first region (scroll instruction region) in the scrolling direction is shortened. However, the length (width) of the scroll instruction region in the direction orthogonal to the scrolling direction is not shortened. According to this configuration, the length (width), in the direction orthogonal to the scrolling direction, of the scroll instruction region located within the scroll image display region is sufficient for the user to move the pointed position, and thus the user can cause scroll display to be performed with good operability, by moving the pointed position in this direction.
In the above description, certain exemplary embodiments are configured as a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein an information processing program executed by a computer of an information processing apparatus. However, certain exemplary embodiments may be configured as an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, or an information processing method.
According to certain exemplary embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium having an information processing program stored therein, an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and an information processing method which allow scrolling to be performed in accordance with an intuitive and easy-to-perform drag operation in a scrolling direction and also allow scroll display to be performed at a higher speed, can be provided.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description of certain exemplary embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.